In a span of four days in November, Sam Altman was ousted from his role as CEO of artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, and then reinstated — in large part because of the voices of the company’s employees.
On Friday, November 17, Open AI’s board of directors released a vague and unanticipated statement about the CEO’s departure, expressing a lack of confidence in his ability to lead. In response, more than 95% of OpenAI’s employees signed a letter on November 20 demanding Altman’s return, threatening to leave the company otherwise. The next day, he was back as chief exec, and a new initial board was put in place.
